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Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Lemons. The Magic Fruit.

Lemons. They are seriously the bomb diggity. Who knew that such a sour tasting fruit could have so many advantages. At the moment, I've discovered two amazing uses for them and I guess indirectly, there's a third though I have yet to accumulate direct evidence of this advantage.

First. I drink lemon water first thing in the morning on a daily basis. I've been doing this for 2 weeks. Depending on what I ate the day before, this can either send me beelining to the toilet immediately or a little later in the morning. But no matter what, so long as I use half a lemon's worth of juice, I go! And for me, since becoming preggers, it's a damn miracle and not only does this cleanse and relieve my body but my SOUL as well. In other words, I f*cking HATE being constipated and this ensures that I'm not ! If you want to try this, here's what I do:
-Slice a lemon in half
-Squeeze into cup
-Add some cold water, then mix with warm water for lukewarm temperature. Lukewarm/warm water is best for your stomach as blasting it with cold anything can be challenging first thing in the morning.
-Mix and drink straight up.
I also tried with a quarter of a lemon because after the first day of doing half a lemon, I thought it was super strong because it sent me racing to the bathroom. But a quarter was too mild so I've stuck to the half a lemon. I find that it really depends on what you eat the day before.
Second. Lemons are packed with vitamins, especially vitamin C. Check out it's nutritional value here. It's got your daily value of vitamin C at 187% ! Not only does this wake up your bowels and entire digestive tract but it's also giving you that super boost of vitamin C, imperative for fighting colds and flu. So I shall see how much stronger I repel germs this cold season.
Third. In my quest to replace my antiperspirant, I stumbled upon the lemon recipe. I'm not a fan of antiperspirant. There's such a plethora of beautiful scents though, how can I not? Well, this stuff totally clogs your pores to stop you from sweating which is the point and I find it unnatural. Not to mention, I find it encourages in-grown hairs and underarm cysts that STANK. I tried baking soda originally which totally does it's job of stopping odor and allowing you to sweat but the PH in that stuff is way too low and gave me a huge rash. It's just not meant to stay on skin for that long.
I stumbled on a forum that pointed out that the secret to non smelly ladies in Brazil were lemons & limes. I then stumbled onto this post on RenegadeMothering and thought I had nothing to lose. I had lemons anyway for my lemon water. I've been using lemons on my underarms for a week now. No rash, no smell and we're having a late summer heat wave in Montreal so it's the perfect time to test. Even my sweaters that I've sweat in have no smell ! I'm impressed ! Here's how I'm doing it:
-Squeeze a tiny bit of lemon juice on to a dish
-Wash your pits with water and soap
-Rub your fingers in the lemon juice
-Rub your lemon juice tainted fingers onto your pits
-Fan your pits to dry or go about your business without putting on your shirt until they're dried
-Put on your clothes. This ensures the acidity of the lemon juice doesn't morph the colors of your clothes.
Voila. So far, I've only tested for one full day before I wash my pits. I don't go two days without washing so not sure if it will work for longer then 24 hours. I believe the citric acids kill the bacteria that reside in your pits that are starving for your sweat. They are the culprits for the stink, kill bacteria, kill stink.
And there you go. I think lemons are also great for making your own natural cleaning products but I have yet to dabble in that. For now, just from the above three advantages, I love this fruit. Not to mention, it makes salads delicious. I know some people advise using only organic lemons but regular lemons work just fine. Also, buying organic is expensive yo. I believe in a balance. Try your best to get the dirty 12 organic and the rest, ah well. Maybe after your next pay bump.
Note: I’m an avid believer of balance in the system. Especially so now that I’m pregnant. Too much of a good thing is always bad. Therefore, for the lemon water, maybe start with a quarter lemon and work yourself up to a half lemon to see what your body prefers.